The complexity and the limits of the 2017 Catalan independence movement force us to (re)think it in a broader sense and ask ourselves how else the events could have gone. This question takes us back to the foundational shortcomings of the independence movement and the lack of synergy between it and the social movements in previous years.
In an examination of the limits and potentials of the 'Catalan October', Josep Maria Antentas goes back further to try to illuminate the present. He recovers the discussions of the workers' movement on nationalism in Catalonia and some of the most original contributions to it from the radical left, such as those made by Joaquín Maurín and Andreu Nin.
''This is perhaps the most important analysis from a Marxist perspective of the October 2017 events in Catalonia. It brings forward both the dynamic and the contradictions of the pro-independence movement, situating it in the broader context of the deeper hegemonic crisis of the Spanish State. And it underscores the crucial challenge of how to rethink the very notion of ‘the people’ at the intersection of class, nation, gender and race, and as a way to revisit the question of a potential subaltern hegemony. A must read for anyone interested in contemporary questions of radical left strategy.'' - Panagiotis Sotiris, Hellenic Open University Panagiotis Sotiris, Hellenic Open University
The book can be ordered here.